Battlestar Galactica Earth rendezvous
by sharpe26
Summary: tos battlestar Galactica finds Earth just after the presidency of one John Patrick Ryan. a little heaping of JAG and R6 included to spice it all up.


Battlestar Galactica Earth rendezvous

How about this, BSG crossover with the Ryanverse? Commander Adama meets Jack Ryan for those of you who are wondering what I'm talking about.

prolog

Commander James Avery USN reexamined the systems on the Discovery. All was still A-okay aboard STS 123. Avery sighed and watched space for a while.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

This came from Susan Cartwright, the Navy doctor aboard. "It's nothing , I just keep on wondering if there is something out there." The two sat quietly for a moment. "Anyway, what brings you up here?"

Cartwright briefly chuckled. "Our fearless leader, he wants you to know that we're ready to start the sequence." Avery nodded "Allright, tell him we're in position and power is ready to go on his signal."

Cartwright disappeared again as Avery continued his stargazing.

She met mission commander Donald Thompson suited and ready, along with Thomas Arroya, the flight engineer who would conduct the linkup between the robot arm and the telescope.

Along with Daniel Hunter, the payload specialist, who would also go out, the three men would try to bring in and repair the Starhunter.

Just like the Hubble in its earlier days, the Starhunter had turned into another multi billion dollar mishap. And now there was a shuttle crew up to fix it.

"Are we set?" Thompson asked her. Cartwright nodded. "Avery's got it all set up. We'll be ready to go once you give the signal."

"Okay, let's go." With that, he entered the airlock, followed by Arroyo. Since the airlock was too small for three men, Hunter would work the robotic arm while Cartwright and Avery would monitor the spacewalkers and their shuttle respectively.

Everything went as planned. Thompson and Arroyo headed up to the objective with their thruster packs as Hunter worked the robotic arm. Thompson reached the telescope first. He briefly examined the instruments outer shell.

Everyone aboard the shuttle then heard him gasp "What in heavens?"

" What is it Don?"

"I've never seen anything like this before. This is just unbelievable." Thompson then called over to Arroya, who had already attached himself to the hook needed to grab Starhunter.

"Grab her up, Arroya. We need to take a closer look at this." Thompson clearly was freaked with something. They could all tell. Arroya managed a successful hookup with Starhunter. Thompson now ordered Hunter to begin reeling her in.

That happened without interference as well. None of the repair crew, noticed a tiny spark of electricity as the telescope was safely encased within the shuttle cargo bay.

A couple of hours later, Everyone had gotten out of the space suits. A checkup by Susan Cartwright showed that everyone was fine, except Thompson who had a slightly elevated blood pressure.

It was then a fire alarm went off.

The entire crew rushed up to the cockpit where Thompson demanded a status report.

Avery was busy studying a camera screen. "Here's what's the matter, the whole freeking cargo bay is on fire!" Thompson paled. He knew more then anyone what the heat of the fire would do with the ship. And for that matter, there was still the powersource for Starhunter.

"Do we dump?" This came from Hunter. "Do we have a choice?"

Avery looked at the temperature readouts and made his decision. He began pushing buttons and toggling switches.

The last thing Avery remembered was hearing how Susan Cartwright reported the load had jettisoned and how they needed to get away fast.

1:

"Carefull, you want to..." Avery felt the headache slam into him the moment he tried to get up. "Owh, my head." He then wondered what the hell he was doing in something that looked like an infirmary.

Avery began ordering his thoughts. Injured and sickbay, right combination. Time?........ He began looking around, trying to find a chronometer. He found several things he thought where it, but failed to understand them. As Avery put his arm on his stumeck, he realized in his dazed state, that he felt something.

Looking down, he noticed there was something silver on his left wrist. As he turned it, he noticed it was a watch. As he examined it closer, Avery noticed it was his own watch!

He cared less about the time. The date mattered more. The fifteenth!!! It was still the fifteenth!!!!!!!!!!

"Where am I?" There was a brief pause. "That's not important right now." The same female voice answered. "It's important you regain your strength. You're gonna need it, commander."

Avery felt something dull near his neck and once he descended into blackness again.

After an eternity, he woke up again. This time, a familiar voice was nearby. "Take it easy, James. You had one heck of concushion there, they had to keep you sedated for the past three days."

Avery felt groggy, but was clearly able to distinguish the voice of Susan Cartwright.

"Susan, what happened?" Cartwright told him that they had been rescued. Anything else would have to wait until Avery would be able to walk around.

It took him a full week. By then, he could walk but was limited only to short distance. But that rapidly improved. Two weeks later, Avery started working out again. He did this for a month under the close supervision of Susan Cartwright and the blonde nurse or doctor, whatever she was, Avery sure as hell couldn't tell. He did notice the similarities between Cartwright and her uniform and the one he was now wearing.

One question kept repeating itself. "Where am I, what is this place?"

After he finished his last round of excercises, Avery saw the two women smile. "I guess you two are ready. "

And with that, two new comers showed up. Avery noticed that the two of them were wearing the same uniforms.

They were escorted to a higher part of the ship.

The quarters they entered seemed a bit more luxurious then anything else the two astronauts had seen elsewhere.

" Enter."

"Ah Cassi, so you think they're ready to hear what we got to say?" the blonde shook her head. "I don't know, commander, But I do know they'll listen to what you have to say." The blonde they only knew as Cassi answered. "Please be seated." the commander motioned them over to two overpadded seats nearby.

He sighed. "Where to begin?" it became apparent to Avery that Susan Cartwright knew more then she was willing to let on.

"Please forgive us, commander Adama, but as yet we haven't a clue to what happened to our ship nor why you brought us here."

" Actually, it was very simple. A patrol detected your ship and the trouble it was in. A rescue shuttle did the rest. I'm sorry to say, commander Avery, that you lost three members of your crew. "Adama let it sink in for a moment. Avery looked stunned then turned to Cartwright "How did it happen?"

" Thompson took Hunter and Arroyo with him to try and fight the fire. When Starhunter exploded, debris knocked a couple of holes in the partition wall. One of them was big enough to depressurize the entire section they were in. "Cartwright never took her eyes of him.

Avery nodded. "So now what? Houston will report us killed, won't they?" Avery nodded "Yep. I don't think the datalinks survived the EMP effect. So it looks like we're stuck here."

That was the time and place "Perhaps, perhaps not. We're much more in a bind then you may realize. I think we'll _have_ to establish contact, either sooner then later. And perhaps your presence here will help as well."

"How so, sir?" Adama explained to him what happened when they ran into the inhabitants of Paradeen. When he concluded, both Avery and Cartwright were chuckling. A bit surprised, Adama asked them why they were laughing.

Cartwright explained "It's nothing sir, but on Earth, there is a saga known as Star Trek. It tells of a ship, by the name of Enterprise and how it is the flagship for a group of worlds known as the United Federation of Planets."

As best as she could, Cartwright explained what she knew of the Prime Directive and some of the other laws that governed that interstellar body. "Is Earth a member of the Federation?" Adama then asked. "No, unfortunately, it isn't. Nor does the Federation exist in reality. It's a figment of someone's imagination."

The commander was briefly at a loss for words. "Our hope, was that our brothers from Earth would be able to protect us. Are you telling me this was all in vain?" Adama looked at the two officers. He had had a report on the ship they had flown.

" Perhaps, Perhaps not." This was Avery. "But before I tell you my idea, commander, I would like to know how all of this got started." Adama allowed himself an inner smile. Avery would be the one to watch.

"It's not an easy story for me to begin. Where would you like me to start?"

"At the start, perhaps?" Avery remarked. "The start? The start of all this, was over a thousand yahrens ago." He pointed at several screens near the far wall. "Now you see how we got started." The two astronauts saw the picture of a silver haired man addressing a crowd.

They heard a woman ask a question about where they, the survivours of the twelve colonies of man were heading. The reply stunned them. "Earth!"

"Earth, why Earth?" The commander looked down for a moment. "Because in our beliefs, Earth is the place for our salvation. And that's also where you come in." Both the commander and Cassi looked at the two astronauts.

It was then the sirens cast their eery wail across the decks.

"Come on, you'll see what's going on." The commander lead them in the direction of the bridge. A few more elevators and a couple of other lead to the bridge.

" Colonel Tigh, status report?"

There was a revolving daise near the center. The true center of the bridge, Avery surmised. The commander walked to it "all batteries ready to engage. Launch vipers at 20 microns."

At this Avery's ears perked. Did these people have interceptors at their disposal? He glanced at one of the status displays. He didn't need to see anymore. The interceptors were outnumbered at least three to one. If this were Earth and he was a landlubber, Avery would know how thing would turn out. Now, in a strange place, he wasn't so sure.

He listened intently as the commander began giving orders. "Blue squadron protects the Galactica. Red squadron gets the agro ships, keep Yellow near some of the passenger freighters. Get Green and brown in a blocking position. They are to keep the Cylons from getting at the fleet."

On a lower level, someone keyed a mike and began giving instructions. Avery kept his eyes on what he thought was the tactical display. The two forces were nearing the merge.

The merge. As the two formations met, Avery noticed how some of the interceptors disappeared. But as he looked at the daggers that indicated the enemy force, he noticed how many had disappeared.

" Incredible." He said silently to himself.

And for some time, Commander James Avery and lieutenant Susan Cartwright watched in silent awe as the colonial fleet defended itself again against a Cylon raid.

After the raid, Adama asked a few people to meet him in his quarters. The first to come in, was colonel Tigh, the XO, Avery remembered. Then another woman came along. Adama introduced her. "Commander Avery, Lieutenant Cartwright, my daughter Athena, Chief flight operations officer aboard. Colonel Tigh you've all met. "

The door chime rang again. This time, three men, wearing matching uniforms entered. Adama stood up. "May I introduce to, Major Apollo, Captains Starbuck and Boomer." He indicated each man with a wave of his hand. Avery noticed something about them.

"So what's it like, out there?" Again there was a pause. Apollo was the first to react. "Solitude. Total solitude, you'll feel like you're dancing amongst the stars." This caused a somewhat uneasy glance from Captain Starbuck "It's bumping into them that has me worried." This caused a few laughs within the assembled crowd.

"You've all been asked to come here due to your understanding of our current situation." Adama began. The three colonial fliers all nodded, as did the two astronauts. "Unfortunately, this also means the Cylons could be aware of it, and I don't have to tell you what that means." The room remained quiet.

"It is therefore my objective to establish contact with Earth." There were some glances towards him and Cartwright. "Since we currently lack good intelligence on the political situation on Earth, I've decided to send an emissary down."

The room stayed quiet. "Who will this emissary be?" This came from Boomer. "Oh, that's easy. The emissary will be Commander Avery, along with Lieutenant Cartwright. "Adama suddenly smiled. "I've taken it upon myself to send an escort down with them. The escort will consist of the following officers. Escort commander will be major Apollo, he will have under him, captains Starbuck and Boomer."

Apollo looked at the two new ambassadors. "I suppose some _retraining_ will be in order?" His father nodded. "Indeed it will, Apollo. I think our guests will be willing to learn a few more tricks of the trade wouldn't you think?"

Apollo nodded "Let's get them started."

2:

Doctor Sally Ryan liked to read her magazines, along with a cup of coffee, and a cheese sandwich during lunch, special agent Lidiya Hunter noticed. In the time that she had been assigned to the former first daughter, Hunter had seen her charge go through some pretty horrific stuff. Even though she was the third agent assigned to guard the former first daughter, Hunter had found it very interesting, and at times a little tense. Esspecially during surgery, after all, how do you protect a former first daughter when one of her job descriptions included working with some of the sharpest knifes in the world.

Hunter figured she had done her job pretty good so far.

There was a knock at the door. One of the nurses, a woman named Richter, Hunter recalled came in with a note for the doctor. Hunter bid him politely goodbye as well as he left.

To her own surprise, Hunter saw the doc turn pale. "What is it?" Sally, now codenamed Angel, put the note down. "Do you believe in ghosts?" _Angel _asked her bodyguard and handed her the note. "What do you want to do?" She was quiet. Hunter looked at the note

"Sally, please meet me at our old sweet spot." The note was signed by a Susan.

"Who is, or rather who was she?"

"A friend of mine. She went into the Navy, and ended up in the new spaceflight program. She was aboard STS 123." Now it was Lidiya's time to wonder if ghosts did indeed exist. Whilst thinking this, she reached for the phone.

The waiting game was one of the hardest games to play, Lidiya reflected. But this would be worth it. Sally Ryan had agreed to go to the agreed spot along with a Secret service response team.

Sally had taken one precaution. She borrowed a Wrangler from one of the nurses on her floor and also taken the liberty of asking Lidiya for a gun. She got a .38 for her own protection. Lidiya had also told her charge to remain calm, and to be ready to hit the dirt at any sign of trouble.

In this way, they waited for three hours.

It was then, _angel_ thought she heard a car approaching. She had to revise that thought some moments later. It wasn´t a car, but it was still a vehicle, a big one at that, Sally deducted from the sound of the engine.

The vehicle came to a stop some distance away from her. And out of nowhere, night was turned into day.

"Hello Sally, or should I say Shortstop!" The voice sounded familiar to Sally. "Susan?" Now curious, Susan approached the shadow between the bright lights.

"Not now Sally, not now." Lidiya Hunter hissed into her microphone. Again Sally got closer to see some more details both on the vehicle and the shadow.

The shadow had something on the hip. Sally edged closer again. The voice had indeed sounded like Susan Cartwright. In the distance, Lidiya Hunter bit her lip. Sally wasn't playing according to the script. "Come on, _ Angel_, stick to what we've agreed on." She whispered

"Team five to launch control." The radio crackled. "Team five, go." Hunter whispered. "We got some movement to our rear, can't identify it." Hunter frowned. "10-4 team five, keep your eyes pealed." Team five acknowledged and signed of. Hunter went back to watching the open area.

The shot that followed startled everyone. That same moment the entire situation went beyond almost anyone's control. Gunfire erupted from one side, as laserfire came from two other sides.

Before she had time to react, the shadow jumped on Sally. In the distance Lidiya heard not only gunfire and shouting people, but something that taunted all description. It was then a strange answer was given to the gunfire from the secret service. Lasers.

Hunter began to sprint towards Angel, hoping to use her car for cover. She sensed someone was tracking her. Explosions started going off around her not much later. Lidiya Hunter had heard some of the details about getting shot from either combat veterans that had joined the service. And she had some notion of what that pain could amount too. But that notion didn't prepare her for the slamdunk that hit her in the right side. Hunter thumbled and passed out.

The darkness stayed briefly.

When she woke up again, something, was towering over her. It wasn't really a monster, but it came pretty darn close. Whatever it was, it brandished a sword. But that wasn't the thing that fascinated Lidiya. The thing that drew her in, was the red sensor eye. How it went from left to right and back, she stared at it, fascinated.

"Human, prepare to meet your maker." It spoke fluent English! Lidiya watched the sword rise. Again, a laser shot rang out. This time, the thing that stood over her was hit square in the chest. Lidiya Hunter however was way past caring, for she had passed out again.

In the meantime, Sally Ryan had time to wonder what the hell she had gotten herself into. The shadow was indeed Susan Cartwright. But everything else about here, was different. Her uniform, her weapon, everything.

"Susan?" Susan Cartwright ignored her college roommate, there was far more danger out there. As he heard the thunder, she looked up to see a viper flashing past.

"Oh boy, are we in for it now."

NORAD still hadn't a clue as too what had happened. The viper had modulated shields that deflected much of the present air radar beams. The shuttle that landed had the same equipment. However, it was a lot bigger and the techs had had some trouble adjusting the power systems.

It was therefore that all of a sudden, Boomer, the warrior flying the shuttle, detected two contacts closing at high speed. He promptly reported this to Apollo, Avery and Cartwright, who promptly turned to Sally.

"Listen Sally, I can explain all of this if you'll just come with me. You know you can trust me. Can you do that again, like the way I trusted me when...." She let it hang there. They both knew what each of them had been through. Yet another sound filled the air, this time it was sirens, police sirens. Or maybe worse, the Feds.

Apollo then came up. "Boomer's reporting two contacts inbound at high speed!" Another voice came in over the radio. "I'm willing to bet they send a couple of interceptors after us. I suggest we get the hell out of here."

"Okay, Sally, you and me, we'll get that agent and then we'll have to board the shuttle. After that, we have a lot of talking to do." She nodded at one of the other men huddled near the vehicle. He immediately climbed in. Moments later, the engine roared to life. " All aboard please." Sally could only watch in awe as Cartwright first secured her aboard then with the help of the driver, carried on Lidiya and secured her as well. "How long to the RV with the shuttle?"

The driver briefly checked his instruments. "Five minutes."

But before that, something passed overhead. "Things must be running hot, the shuttle just passed overhead."

There was an opening up ahead, the cavernous entry to the shuttle. Without stopping, the vehicle rushed in. Everyone got out and took a seat as the ship lifted off. Sally was strapped in by Susan Cartwright. She saw another woman who looked like a medic attending to the wounds of Lidiya Hunter. Sally saw Susan relax. She looked at her old college roommate, studying her intently. Susan seemed totally at ease. But there was something, something deep that disturbed her very much.

"Susan, what's going on here?" Cartwright turned her head to the left and smiled. "Take a look out the window." The moon passed to the left. "The moon!?!" Cartwright smiled. "That ain't all, shortstop." Sally felt the shuttle turn and bank slightly. Susan motioned her to look outside "What in the blazes!"

3

The investigation that followed the firefight, was broad. The FBI and Secret Servirce shared responsibillity in what they thought was another terrorist attack. However, this changed soon as the body of one the agents was discovered, minus his head.

When the autopsy showed the same pattern appearing on two other bodies, the investigation sped up. However, when the laser wounds were discovered, things went sour almost immediately.

Things also went sour however, when NORAD report that at least two unusual contacts had also been spotted in the area. One of which had exited the area at an estimated speed of mach 8. All of these things John Patrick Ryan jr. read from the report now on his computer screen.

And at the core of it all, his sister Sally had disappeared!

Jack thought about the situation. There was something missing in all of this. "I'm missing something here." He reread the onscreen information again. There was indeed something missing here, but what?

Right then, on the spot where it all occurred, agent Dominic Caruso wondered the same thing. The locations of the secret service had all been secured already. The discarded jeep was were Sally had been standing. A slight distance from there, a lone figure was squatting, looking at something on the ground. Dominic walked over. He was surprised to see a couple of small craters along his chosen route.

"Interesting, there was at least one tracked vehicle here, a third party in the fight?" The voice sounded familiar to Dominic. "Uncle John?"

John Clark turned around and got up. "Hello, agent Caruso." The very surprised Dominic Caruso shook hands with the head of team Rainbow. "What brings you here, mr Clark?" Clark was examining the scene, taking in all he could. "Considering the number of terrorist attacks on the Ryan family, some people thought it wise that someone with terrorism experience looked in on this as well." Dominic briefly wondered who those other people were.

"Sir!, Over here!" The call came from someone Dominic clearly recognized as being a member of Clark's unit. The two of them walked over together. "What is it, Homer?" Homer Johnson was kneeling on the ground, looking at some burn marks.

"Take a look at this, these burn marks are unlike anything I've seen before. And the tracks lead off in this direction." Now Dominic really began to wonder what had happened here. From the distance they heard another agent call out to him. Somehow, Dominic felt the urgency in his voice, it made him want to run over there.

It was a mount. Something had been buried here, but for how long? Caruso noticed Clark was studying the ground rather intently. "No drag marks. Whatever it is, it was carried here." This came from Homer. Caruso looked at Clark "I'll get a tech team down here with some digging equipment."

In view of what happened later, Caruso wished he never said that. The tech team arrived and started digging. It didn't take them long to hit metal.

After a few hours, and a few cups of coffee, Caruso, Clark and Johnson were called back to the dig site. They were let into a tent that had been erected over the mound and a part of the surrounding area. On two tables there was something that looked like human remains. On the others, and it was truly the best description, were machines. Each of the machines, looked like giant lizards, with a gargantuan hole in their chests.

"How many did you find?" Caruso asked the teamleader. "We 've dug up twelve so far. No telling how many others might be down there." At that comment Clark found he had reason to frown. "what makes you say that?" The team leader explained and showed all three the ground radar return. "this return indicates at five more shapes like the ones you see on the table. "The threesome thanked him and went over to the tables where forensic technicians were studying the machines.

"All of this machinery is very interesting, Tony." Agent Cinthia Dalehart commented as she studied the hole in the chest of number six. "Any clue as to what took them out?"

" What's the most powerfull calibre handgun you know?" Cynthia then asked. "That one doesn't even come close to what this thing did to this robot." Dominic gulped, Clark and Johnson kept their thoughts to themselves.

If Lieutenant Brian Caruso had known about the find of the investigating teams find, there would have been a major scandal in the armaments industry of the United States. But currently, he just wondered what Cystar armaments had in store for them. The combat range was easily identified.

Suddenly an announcer spoke up "Ladies and gentlemen of the armed forces. On behalf of Lord Baltar, CEO of Cystar, welcome to Cystars first demonstration of the new ground war system for the armed forces, codenamed Starsabre." The announcer went on to describe the situation. "Starsabre has been designed with the following applications in mind. Overcoming ambush situations with superior firepower. Population control through measured force and best of all, no more human assets, or loss, which will reflect on the public opinion." The comment made Brian frown. Where these robots? Here was something that indeed was worth investigating.

Brian watched as a military vehicle drove up to the test range. At first it seemed that it wouldn't stop, but it did. The vehicle held still for at least five minutes, but when it moved off again, there were two lines of what looked to be men, awaiting the order to move out.

At the signal from one of them, gold plated, they all moved out as one. Now Brian was surprised to see that the intended targets were armed, albeit with the classic assault rifles of yesterday. The Starsabres had now formed a single line and were closing in. Without as much as waiting, the shooting began. The assault rifles had clearly been automated and fired first. The return fire from the Starsabres however, was something one had to see to believe. It was almost like Star Wars. Most of the targets with rifles were destroyed with the first volley. It suddenly seemed as if the robotlike soldiers ran out of power.

It was then the next surprise was unveiled. Still holding their line formation, each of the Star sabre robots drew swords.

Swords!?! Brian looked at the formation of troops, not believing what he was seeing. They couldn't mean this, could they? The line was now approaching the targets. At the instigation of a gold coloured one, the Star sabres increased their pace and now closed rapidly with the remaining targets.

The thing that followed would have been a massacre had it been real life and not a demonstration. Swords, laser weapons, just who the hell was this lord Baltar? Brian looked at the chairman of Cystar as he was chatting amicably with an army general.

Back in his hotel room, Brian opened up his laptop and started to type. He was well into his report of the demonstration when there was a knock at the door. "who is it?" A feminine voice answered. "Colonel Mackenzie to see you, captain Caruso." Sarah Mackenzie entered the room to find one Marine lieutenant standing at attention. "As you were."

" Mam, what can I do for you?" Brian didn't quite understand why the top Marine lawyer would want to see him.

"You were at the Cystar demonstration?" Brian nodded. "for a moment I thought those guys were robots. And might I add I have never seen these kinds of weapons that they were using." Mackenzie nodded. " Neither have I."

In the meantime, on the Cystar proving ground, prying eyes were studying the layout of the security patrols.

4:

Commander Harmon Rabb Jr. looked at the demonstration grounds with casual interest. He noticed how the guards moved around in pairs throughout the area. Near the testing ground, things were quiet, too quiet.

As Harm examined the area through his nightvision goggles, he noticed the area near the bleachers had been cleared and levelled as if.......

The sound of vehicles pierced the tranquillity of the night. Only these, weren't motorized. Harm stayed silent, continueing to watch. Then it seemed as if there was a jet overhead. The howl of its engines made Harm cover his ears.

He uncovered them again as he noticed the sound slacking off. "What the...." Instead of one series of lights, there were three, all hovering in front of the testground, and near them, stood vehicle, a limousine of the executive kind.

A lone figure stood beside it.

The aircraft, or whatever they were then began landing. Within minutes they touched down without raising as much as a speck of dust. The door of the limousine opened.

From the distance, Harm couldn't see a face but did notice the shape getting out. "Now who are you?" he whispered quietly to himself. Then something else caught his attention. "Disco?" While the figure from the limousine seemed petite, _disco_, as Harm had called him seemed to be a good foot taller. The two seemed to get along just well.

Disco suddenly turned in Harms direction.

"Human, surrender or die." A metallic voice suddenly said. In one aspect Harm was lucky. The bunch of centurions that approached him from his right, weren't really fast. So, they didn't expect Harm to jump up instantly and make run for it.

They fired.

And missed! Harm had been fired upon quite a few times before, but this was different. He barely managed to evade the shots. As he ran, with all his might, Harm noticed he was beginning to outrun his pursuers. He reached his car with any further trouble and drove off.

Five miles on, he used the quick dial on his sat phone. It rang three times.

" Mac, it's Harm. Get out of your hotel, right now!"

" What gives? Why?" Harm interrupted her. "It's not important. I'll call you back." He switched off his phone as he noticed something coming up behind him, fast.

The next moment, a salvo was fired from one of the three disc ships he had seen earlier.

In the hotel with Brian, Sarah Mackenzie was hitting her redial button. But it was no use. Out on a back road, there was a burning car.

The following morning, there was a knock on Brian Caruso's door.

"Who is it?"

"FBI, Lieutenant Caruso, we have a warrant for your arrest." An astounded Brian Caruso opened the door. The Agent holding the warrant was surprised to see a woman in night robes and a towel wrapped around her head. He smiled.

"Ah colonel Mackenzie, good of you to stick around. We have a warrant for your arrest as well." Being the always the lawyer, she asked what the charge was "Espionage."

The two Marine officers were allowed to dress and after that were led handcuffed into the waiting vehicles.

In the hours that followed, the interrogations seemed endless. All of the agents that tried it, came to the conclusion that neither of them had any idea about the goings on at Cystar. Nevertheless, the two were still ordered to be detained.

A few hours later, the two marine officers had a couple of visitors. Not a lawyer, but definetly the next best thing. Dominic Caruso! The other guy with him was older, Brian saw but had a far more dangerous air around him.

"What the hell happened to you?" when Dominic heard about what had happened to his brother, he had pulled every string he knew to get the case. It worked. Along with John Clark he had flown to Houston, where his brother was held, and was allowed to see him.

Dominic looked at the colonel. "Any word on your partner?" Mackenzie shook her head "None, I haven't a clue to what's he doing." Clark studied the colonel intently. She was clearly telling the truth. What answers would her partner have?

Clark leaned back, while Dominic was talking to his brother, and thought. Apparently someone had started an operation against Cystar. The colonel was clearly involved, but this lieutenant Caruso wasn't. And suddenly it hit clark, just prior to his own leaving of the CIA, there was an up and coming DDO named Webb who had ran some operations involving Navy personnel, maybe that was him. And since colonel Mackenzie her partner was still missing, Clark cursed silently. This wasn't a time for his guys to go active.

The agent in attendance then came in. "time's up gentlemen." The two officers shook hands with their visitors and were escorted out of the visiting room.

Later that night, the nightshift security guard on duty at the Houston Federal building watched a delivery truck pull up to the curb. He also watched how the driver got out and began cursing vehemently about the condition the vehicle was in. It was no surprise to that guard that the driver was cursing in Spanish. It seemed nowadays as if everyone out there in that blasted city spoke Spanish.

He looked down briefly at his other monitors. Everything was still clear in the rest of the building. As he looked up again, the truck driver had disappeared. Without looking, the guard hit the alarmbutton, then rushed out to see if his assumption was correct.

He never noticed the static on his camera screens nor the fact that all the phones had gone dead.

When he got out of the building, the driver was nowhere to be seen.

"Ola Muchacho." The voice was one thing, the cold metal of the gunbarrel on his neck something else. "the magic word?" The guard asked. Chavez stayed quiet, for a moment. "Keys." The guard was quiet. "Keys?" Chavez reinforced his message by cocking his Beretta and pressing harder on the guards skull.

"They're on the desk, they're on the desk." The guard was shouting now and noticed the others that had surrounded them. All seemed to be carrying either submachineguns or small assaultrifles. And they were clad in black, all of them.

The Latino with the Beretta lead them inside. After that, the guard made sure he got out of there. This was not something he wished he was part of.

Ding lead the new Rainbow team three to the detainee tank. With some hacking help, Team Rainbow had been able to secure a very good set of blue prints of the Federal building. Electronic expert David Peled had done the rest. Houston had a problem, a big one.

One of the lucky strikes for Rainbow had been the decision to hit the building in the deep of night. The only ones present, were security guards that surrendered at once when they noticed the array of firepower against them.

Moments later, the locks clicked in two holding cells, and two very surprised marine officers found they were very, very free. Leaving the building wasn't much of a hassle. Nor was there any trouble reaching the rendezvous site.

Here, John Clark was waiting along with Clayton Webb. There was a difference between the two though. Clark had basically kidnapped Webb. And now he was looking at a somewhat angry Marine colonel.

" Keep him tied up for a while, will you, Mr Clark. My fingers are aching to try some man to man combat....." The sound of metal scraping concrete caught everyone's attention.

"In the name of the Cylon Empire, surrender or die." The voice wasn't human, everyone from Team Rainbow and their rescued people, turn to look at the Centurion unit, standing at a concrete embankement above them, his red eye moving to and from. Suddenly, there were twenty more of them, standing above the humans, their own weapons aimed downward.

"Now what?" Clark handed USP pistols to both Mac and Brian. "Now Lieutenant, we fight!" And with that, a salvo of 20 mm grenades tore into the robots. In the meantime, Clark, Chavez along with the officers had ducked into a lower gulley.

"Halt!" Again that same metallic voice. "Not again." This time all three of them fired, without effect. The bullets bounced off the robot without halting his advance. That was when something else came up.

The derelict vehicle didn't stop for the three robots bearing down on the four humans. It knocked them down without very much effort.

Brian didn't waste any time and raced to get to a rifle one of the robots had lost. By then, three more robots came up. "Lieutenant, now would be a good time indeed." Clark remarked as he and the colonel raced for the vehicle.

It was by pure accident Lieutenant Brian Caruso found the trigger. His first shot was therefore a miss. His second shot wasn't. The first robot went down, as did the second and the third. By then Mac reached the car, with Clark not far behind.

"What took you so long Marine?" Mac was surprised. Clark wasn't.

"I could ask the same question, airdale." He called for Caruso to join them. "Let's get out of here." The car sped off.

5:

Peregrine cliff, or Ryan manor, it all depended on your view of things. But one thing was certain, agent Scott Thomas thought, The place had one heck of a view.

"We got us a car coming up the road." A voice crackled in his ear. I had to be Kristin, one of the six female agents on the detail and currently in the 'pirates nest' or lookout as some of the less humoured agents called it.

"Roger that, eyeballs on them." There were several cameras aimed outward, pointed at the intersection and the road leading up to the house. This allowed the Ryan detail to monitor everyone who approached.

John Clark was on his mission level again. Cold as ice, the snakeman, as he was once called.

" Confirmed, it's Clark, just as the boss mentioned."

Former president Jack Ryan met him at the door. "Hi John, what brings you to this place?" Clark was quiet for a moment. "Personal circumstances." Ryan looked at the Rainbow director. "I see. " Comeone, there's a place we can talk more privately."

To Clark's surprise, Ryan had only a small private study. It was however filled with a real collection of treasures. Some were paintings Clark recognized. Others were books. Some of the titles he knew, some he didn't.

" What brings you back here, John?" Clark was quiet for a minute. What should he tell his one time boss? What could he tell him? And more importantly, would he listen?

"Mr President, due to circumstances beyond my control, I'm forced to report to you personally on the investigation into the disappearance of your daughter. "Ryan leaned forward.

By removing the backseat of the car, Clark had been able to create a hiding space for three people and now, one of them was getting restless. Commander Harmon Rabb had been in tight places before, but this was ridiculous.

It was then relief came. Three knocks on the side of the car.

The looks the three naval officers had on their face was incredible. No way in the world had they thought they would end up at a former presidential estate.

"Don't worry, Mr Clark has informed me about the situation. You're safe here." Somehow those words sounded to good to be through, but they were. The secret service agents left all of them alone. A few days later, another car, this one a Hummer, drove up on the Ryan estate.

Again, president Jack Ryan stood at the door of his house, awaiting two new visitors.

One of them he knew personally. The other was a friend of the family. "Welcome back, son, Dominic." Both Jack Jr and Dominic were surprised to see their respective dad and uncle waiting at the door.

First, the two Jacks embraced. Then, the senior Ryan turned to his nephew. " Good to see you too, Dominic." Caruso nodded "An honour to be here again, mr president." Ryan motioned the two to follow him.

They came to a door which seemed to lead to a study. The former president knocked on it thrice, then opened the door.

Dominic smiled, as did Jack junior. "we'd never guessed it dad. You know Dominic would have to arrest you now." Ryan looked at his nephew. " Yeah, but I'm not going to. Even though your dad is involved now, Jack, there's something bigger going on here, and somehow, we're all involved."

They spent the rest of the day theorizing. The most valuable information here in came from Rabb and Brian Caruso. Rabb told everyone about Disco, while Brian offered the captured rifle up for further investigation. During this theorizing they were joined by Clark and Chavez . Clark listened and offered some theories of his own while Chaves just listened.

Cathy Ryan finally broke the round table by announcing dinner was ready.

Jack, the twins and Clark and Chavez engaged in lively dinner conversation. All of them had known the Ryans a long time and, due to their present occupations hadn't had time to visit. Mackenzie and Rabb talked a bit to each other. They found they now had time to talk to each other again.

Before Harm had one word out, a flash lit up the room.

6

A few moments later, one of the agents on the detail bounded through the dinner room doors.

"Sir, we can't stop them. They overran three checkpoints already." The assembled looked at each other. "Here's what we'll do."

Some miles from the Ryan house, Baltar stood alongside Lucifer. They watched as two small Cylon transport ships landed more Centurians. In the distance there was the telltale smoke of a fire. Along with that, the tranquillity of the night was punctuated by the sound of gunfire. Apparently, the presidential guard was trying to put up a fight with projectile weapons.

So far there was no report of serious resistance.

Suddenly, all shooting stopped. A centurian approached Baltar. " the humans want to see you up front, sir."

Baltar followed him reluctantly, with Lucifer not far behind.

They went right up to the house.

A phalanx of Centurians made up a line. Their weapons were aimed at the house. One man was standing near the entrance.

Baltar recognized him immediately. Jack Ryan, the former President of the United States stood on the steps leading up to his house.

Feeling a little more bold now, Baltar stepped forward. "President Ryan. Surrender, and I will spare all of humanity." This remark caused a few uneasy glances in the house itself. "I drove over a couple of his goons. What's he going to" Harm never finished the sentence. Three disc ships, just like the ones he had seen at the Cystar proving grounds, flew over the house.

" It's your choice, Mr president."

Jack Ryan senior followed the disc ships as they arced into a climb. " Lord Baltar. "Jack fixed the man with his intend gaze. "I know who you are, Count Baltar of Piscera."

"So it was you, wasn't it." Ryan nodded. "It was me. My own little version of corporate espionage." Again looks where exchanged inside the house. Brian had the Cylon rifle he captured steady on Baltar.

"Come on, come on." Brian whispered, looking through the sight.

"Oh really, mr president. Then if you know about me, you must also know these machines here." Ryan looked at the battle line of centurions. "I'm afraid I don't consider these machines, as you call them, your friends."

Baltar ignored the remark and put up a test of his own. "Strange isn't it that we're still on time." He saw immediately the pause his remark gave Ryan. In the house the tension was growing. "Uncle Jack needs to get out of there, fast. "Dominic whispered as he watched the line of Centurions. "I know." Brian whispered in response.

"On time for what?" Jack asked, deciding to get it over with. "To rescue you." Baltar said. Jack clenched a fist. Was Count Baltar lying? "Oh really, then you might be responsible for rescueing my daughter as well." This time, Lucifer came up.

In one of the other rooms overlooking the scene, Harm whispered " Disco." just loud enough for Mac to catch it. "Disco? You know that..... thing?" Harm nodded. "Yeah, he's the only reason the president was right." Mac didn't quite comprehend, but didn't have time to ask on.

"Perhaps, this answers your question, mr president." Lucifer handed something over to Baltar who in turn handed it to Jack. "Just press the green button." Jack did as told, and immediately wished he didn't.

A holographic image appeared. It was Sally Ryan. "Father, if you get this message it means something has happened to me. I urge you to work with count Baltar he will provide you with all information necessary to secure my release."

Jack eyed Baltar again. Without saying a word, he launched himself and Baltar found himself facing a raging fury. Lucifer looked on stoically. Then he turned towards the closest line of Centurions. " take care of that, we still have need of him." Before the Centurion took one step, he went down.

" Move in, take down the house." With that order Lucifer began his own retreat.

Jack was unwary of everything around him. Only Baltar mattered. To his left and to his right, he heard the centurions beginning to move. He also heard how the laser fire from his nephews captured weapon began thinning them out.

It was then, on that moment that a different sound filled the skies surrounding Peregrine cliff. And the skies turned to orange for everyone inside the house.

Baltar used that same moment of distraction to throw Ryan off himself. Then, he made a beeline for the treeline. He had a pretty good idea on who was arriving.

Brian was the first to get his vision back. He noticed a rather box like shape touching down somewhere to the left of his position in the house. Out of that box came something that looked like a vehicle.

But it wasn't any vehicle he knew. From the corner of his eye he caught a small group of robots still heading for the house. He swung the rifle on them.

Laserfire, at least that's what Brian thought it was, began tearing into those robots, not destroying them one at the time, but in twos and threes. By the time the vehicle pulled up to the house, there were no more centurions in sight.

Brian and the others began assembling outside. "We'd better look for your dad, Jack." Jack Ryan JR nodded. "Let's go."

Clark and Chavez studied the area. "Whoever these guys were Jefe, they tore through them good." Chavez observed. "Yeah, maybe these guys know what's going on around here." The two Rainbow officers walked over to Jack and Brian. In the meantime, Dominic, Mac and Harm were comparing notes on what had just happened when they heard the cry.

Apollo, Starbuck, Avery and the secret service agent the colonials rescued a few days ago were up ahead. Behind them, was none other then Sally Ryan.

Dressed in colonial warriors garb, she was supposed to blend in with the rest of them but somehow, she still stood out.

Harm noticed them first "Company's coming." Mac looked up, as did Dominic. "Wow, at least these guys are..." He paused, spotting the familiar shape of someone. It was then they heard the cry for a medic.

Apollo only had to look at Cassieopeia. "On my way."

Sally Ryan walked up to her cousin Dominic "Hi Dom." Dominic Caruso was surprised to say the least. In the middle of a battle against robots from who knows where, his cousin Sally shows up, wearing a uniform from .......

" what just happened?"

"Look guys, we don't have much time. Please get aboard the half track. I'll explain along the way." At that moment the sirens began to wail again. "Not again." Sally looked at the small group nearby "Major Apollo, company's coming!"

Apollo had already heard it. "Get him in the landram, we're evacuating." Cassie motioned to Brian and the others to help pick up an unconscious Jack Ryan Sr. then she motioned them to board the tracked vehicle.

Despite being tracked, Brian wondered about the vehicles speed as it headed away. A few minutes later they reached a clearing on the beach. There were two boxlike other ships waiting with small groups of armed men near them.

"Looks like you came prepared Sally." Sally Ryan kept her eyes on the road the landram driver followed. "Yeah, but you gotta believe it to see it." The vehicle boarded the shuttle with relative ease. Not much later, everyone felt the shuttle lifting off.

45 minutes later, Sally told them to disembark from the vehicle and look out the window.

7

Jack Ryan SR woke up to look at a bright light, and a familiar voice " He 's coming around."

"Where am I?"

" That's going to take some time to explain, dad, but let's just say we're with a lot of friends here." He recognized the voice. " Sally, is that you?" His eyes began focussing in on a lot of brown and sand coloured spots. Spots that soon resolved themselves into people.

"Sally, where are we." She didn't answer his question. Instead "You gotta rest dad, we'll talk in a few days."

And this way a few days did indeed pass. Former United States president Jack Ryan got to see more then he cared for of the sickbay he was in. Three days passed before Sally, Jack jr and two people he didn't know came in to visit him.

They met the doctor first "Doctor Salik, how is he?" Sally Ryan asked the Galactica's CMO. "A few more days rest will be just right for him, I think." And so he was moved to a new part of what he figured to be some sort of vessel.

A day after this, Jack sr found himself pacing some cramped but comfortable quarters. Again, Sally made an appearance, along with junior and yet again some people he didn't know.

"You ready dad? There's someone here that wants to talk to you." Ryan senior nodded. "Good, cause I would like to know what's going on." Sally smiled. "I never believed it until I saw it with my own eyes, but, let's just say that we're no longer alone anymore."

Ryan pondered the meaning of his daughters words. "What do you mean, we're no longer alone?" Sally Ryan kept quiet. "We're here." She suddenly said.

It was a single door. It didn't appear to be any kind of office behind it, but Ryan sr knew better. There was only one plaque on the door and in English it read "commander."

"Are you ready dad." Ryan looked at his daughter. Ryan shook his head decisively "No I'm not ready, but let's get it over with." For once Jack Ryan Sr had been manoeuvred into something he really had no info about.

There was some kind of door chime. "Enter." The voice sounded like one of a commander.

Jack was surprised to see commander Adama, whereas commander Adama was not surprised to see him.

He smiled.

"Commander Adama may I present my father, president Jack Ryan." The commander smiled and stepped forward. He grasped Ryans hands in the traditional colonial fashion. The only thing Ryan could do was return the favour.

"An honour to finally to meet you mr president." Adama motioned for Ryan to sit down.

Ryan looked around, not quite believing what he was seeing. The commanders quarters were about as large as an admirals stateroom aboard a carrier. There was one thing that made Jack wonder. As he came in, his eyes had fallen upon a display cabinet. It seemed as if there were some Egyptian statues on there.

"Fascinating. Have you been on Earth before?" Adama noticed Jack was looking at the statues. He sighed. "No, we haven't been on Earth before. Earth has apparently always been here, save for one thing. "Ryan remained silent briefly "Which is?"

"To our beliefs, Earth was the place of our salvation." Ryan looked at the colonial. "It was what?" he asked, slightly astonished at what he had learned.

"It was the place of our salvation, where we would be safe from our Cylon enemies." Ryan concentrated. "the Cylons? That wouldn't be the name of those fellas that showed up on my doorstep, trying to burn my house down?" Adama nodded. "the very same ones. And it would appear they have some sort of base on Earth." That was when the dots connected "Cystar?"

Apollo nodded as he brought in the rest of the Ryan family and their friends. "Cystar indeed, commander Rabb and colonel Mackenzie were asked to look into that." The commanders son then went into a lengthy explanation of what the Ryan rescue had provided on information.

Adama nodded. "Mr president I'm afraid we're running out of time. If count Baltar has a near fully functional resource base we're in deep trouble, and so is your world."

A buzzer then demanded the attention of the colonial president.

8

Visitors would come and go to the White House now under intense scrutiny. But it was something you learned to live with, president Edward Kealty thought as he was ushered to a meeting with someone whom his defense secretary, James Holbeck, had called a military genius in the making.

Holbeck, another one of the presidents lawyer friends, was ecstatic. "You gotta see what this guy has planned, Ed, it could really help turn things in our favour on the battlefield." Kealty made a grimace. Holbeck had been enjoying himself over in the Pentagon a little too much lately, the rumour mill had it he had found new respect for the men and women in uniform. And, knowing that he was just another lawyer, he had tried his to be on his best towards them.

And in some cases it worked. Through hard work, Holbeck had managed to improve the standard of living and also an increase in pay. And now, though excited of the prospects this Lord Baltar, he secretly wondered if he was doing the right thing.

Then he and the president entered the office. Baltar, still looking regal, rose from his chair. It almost seemed as if the CEO of Cystar made some kind of bow. The man had never been in Japan, had he? Holbeck filed the thought away.

"Lord Baltar, may I present to you the honourable Edward Kealty , president of the United States." Kealty extended his hand. Baltar took it and made the traditional colonial handshake of it.

Holbeck wondered about it, but decided to keep his mouth shut. "An honour to meet you mr President." He nodded at Holbeck "Mr Secretary, a pleasure to see you again." Holbeck acknowledged him as formally as he possibly could. "Lord Baltar, we're glad to have you here." The three sat down.

"Well then Lord Baltar, what can I do for you." Kealty was very well known for his supposed court room demeanor. Although fake, he had lost his case against the then president Ryan. And somehow, he didn't know how, he felt he had to be as inquisitive as he had trained to be in court. He felt there was more to Baltar then met the eye.

The conversation was amicable and lasted for an hour and a half. After Baltar had left, Kealty and Holbeck reconvened in the oval office.

"Well Jim, why did you bring that Lord Baltar here?" Holbeck sighed. "I'm not sure anymore, Ed." Holbeck sighed again and ran his fingers through his scalp. "Quite frankly, I feel we're going to have to decide if we're willing to take the human element out of war." Kealty made a grimace. "Personally, I feel that if it could help, I 'd go ahead with it." Holbeck didn't hear it. "Both the Marines and the army are indeed argueing against employing those Cystar vehicles, though I do have to say that Airforce and Navy both think very highly of the fighters Baltar is willing to provide."

Kealty nodded. "I've seen the recommendations from the Chairman. At least that seems worth a go. Can your guys draw up specs that would make such a fighter acceptable to all of the services?" Holbeck now gave his boss a look. "I know, I'll talk to the chiefs once I get back. Budget advantage?" the president held up a folder. " That's what I'm aiming at." Holbeck nodded understandingly. " I'll see what I can do."

Something on the folder caught his attention. "Ryan investigation?" The president handed the folder to him. "Yeah, it seems somehow they've all disappeared, along with two Marine officers and someone from Navy JAG." Holbeck looked at the photos and the data. "Hmm, just before I came over, I had a message from our friends at the MOD. They're just wondering where the hell some of our people that belong to Rainbow have disappeared to. Quite frankly, I don't know where they are either."

Now the president made a grimace. "I suppose you have people looking into it?"Holbeck nodded. "Yes, I have. But so far they've also drawn up a blank. So has NCIS." Kealty nodded. "Since it's basically an attack on the president, both the FBI and the Secret Service are cooperating on this, but they're drawing a blank also." Kealty was paused in thought.

"I'll talk to both the service and the FBI director later today. I'll have to see what comes out of this. Anyway, you just get back and talk to the chiefs for me."

Kealty then sat down behind the desk to read the folder again.

In the meantime, Baltar reached his private jet at Washington airport. Once airborne, he contacted Lucifer, who was still monitoring production over in Texas. "How is the production proceeding?"

"So far it would seem all is going according to plan. The taskforces you designed are nearing completion." Baltar let the words sink in for a moment. "How is their deployment proceeding?"

"Up to 75% complete. New York and Washington still need their some extra ground forces. But this is only due to our _involvement_ with that Ryan affair."

"That was something that needed to be done, Lucifer. Ryan and his associates would be very dangerous in the coming events. Ut now that they have all disappeared, We can move ahead with our schedual."

Lucifer only replied with the obligatory "By your command." And not much later, from somewhere in the desert, far from any of humanties prying eyes, a massive surge of Cylon fighters launched, split into several flight groups and went their separate ways.

Noone reported UFO sightings as they flew. The radar shielding worked. And as daylight came round again, All of the bases reported they were up to their full fighter force.

Those reports were given to Baltar who found it good reason to smile. Lucifer then rolled into the room. "By your command."

"Ah Lucifer. Do we have a message from our esteemed leader?" Lucifer came to a halt "We do. He will arrive in this system in 96 of Earths hours." Baltar paled at that thought somewhat. If imperious leader showed up, he knew it would be not only the end of Earth but of himself as well.

The thought sounded a little eerily.

That very same moment somewhere in the Appalachians close to Washington DC

As the shuttle touched down, a small group of the Galactica ground force jumped out and deployed. Once Apollo got the all clear he and the others left the shuttle. Avery talked to the former president. " Well sir, where do we go from here?" Ryan looked at the stars for a brief moment and pointed eastward. "Washington."

Everyone waited until the Landram was ready to go. Without much further being said, the fully loaded landram drove into the darkness.

9

Washington was everything Jack Ryan Sr. remembered it to be. It was also everything he hated it to be.

Cars bustling through and from, people walking, and behind all of this, the tower of Congres stood, as tranquill as ever.

"Who is it we're going to see up at the Hill, dad?" Ryan junior was driving. "We're not going to see anyone. I want to leave a message with Daniel Stromberg." Junior managed to surpress the urge to look at his dad. "You're going to see the chairman of congres?!? Excuse me, but you are you mad?" Ryan smiled. "I never said such a plan wouldn't work. I'm feel we're just going to have to be a bit carefull."

Jack jr didn't think aloud, but realised his dad was right. If they weren't carefull, the horde of Federal Agencies would land up on them like a tonne of bricks. They parked in one of the many nearby parking garages. Lady luck was still on their side as the parking, though attended, was free of any other personnel.

To both the Ryans it felt strange to walk in Washington without being recognized by anyone.

It was the same as they went up the steps. People were coming and going through and from, just minding their business. It seemed even the Capital police was too busy to deal with them. There was a central desk for all visitors Ryan noticed. He motioned Jack Jr. "Look, just as we discussed before heading in. We deliver the message then get the hell out of Dodge." Jack nodded "Was it really like this back then?" The senior Ryan didn't look at his son. "You can only imagine what it was like back then." His son took the envelope from him.

" Right, here goes."

Jack Jr. walked up to the desk and delivered the message. Both he and his dad left the building without further hassle and returned to the garage where they had left their car. The envelope, after being checked, was delivered to speaker StromBerg without further hassle.

It took him two minutes to read message, another two to reschedual some of his appointements and another fifteen minutes to hire a car. Later that night, he drove out to a certain spot on the outskirts of Baltimore.

Two cars were waiting for him on the spot. Each activated their lights without further warning.

"Please step forward, Dan." Stromberg got out of his vehicle, despite being disturbed in his night vision. He couldn't see who was in front of him. He didn't much care either. He knew he heard movement to his sides also.

"Nothing to worry about Dan, just some of my people checking to see if you didn't bring along uninvited guests."

Stromberg was relieved as he finally recognized the voice of former president Ryan. "Jack, what's going on here?"

"Let's just say, we need to talk to you about something of more then national importance." Ryan escorted the Chairman to another waiting car.

The following morning, the president of the United States was treated to a headline about the disappearance of the speaker of congres. Shortly after came a phone call from James Holbeck, asking for an immediate appointement with him.

It wasn't a surprise to see Holbeck, near the end of the morning. What was a surprise however, was the fact that Baltar was with him.

Before Holbeck spoke Baltar piped up. "Mr President, I asked the secretary to make an appointement with you on my behalf due to the situation that has arisen from the disappearance of the House Speaker."

Kealty frowned "How would you know about that, Lord Baltar?" Kealty's question was reward by a videotape. "One of our air prototypes was tested last night from one of the companys nearby airfields. Whilst checking their scanning equipment, they encountered something." At Kealtys insistence, Holbeck put the tape in the nearby vcr.

The first thing that appeared was the timestamp. Then appeared the image. It was a boxlike sort of thing displayed on the screen. It had two engines that flared brightly. Explosions were seen going off to the sides of it, but as Baltar looked, both the president and the SECDEF seemed to ignore that little fact.

Out of nowhere, the picture turned orange briefly, followed by just static. "What happened?" Kealty asked. "We lost that prototype." Kealty nodded "That became clear to me once I saw the static, your lordship. But what I'd like to know is what it was we saw on the video." Baltar paused briefly. "That, mr president, was a shuttlecraft developed by a competitor of mine, known as the colonials. Apparently they would seem interested in some your governments business deals as well."

"And where can we find these gentlemen?" To Baltars inner delight, the president had taken the bait. "I'm afraid you'll not like what I'm about to disclose to you."

House speaker Daniel Stromberg fell from one amazement into the other. The first surprise was finding out Jack Ryan senior and his family were very much alive. The second was finding the presumed killed shuttle crew along with the missing JAG officers and the leading Counter Terrorist operatives. The third surprise was the colonial fleet and its leadership.

And there was the Galactica. The huge yet strikingly beautiful battlestar. Stromberg had learned of the colonials plight. In turn, he provided some information on Baltar and some of his activities on Earth. Both Ryan senior and commander Adama and his staff seemed more then a little distressed.

" Order Red squadron to standby alert." Was Adama's reaction when he first heard the news.

In this way, a few days passed. Adama had to attend a council session aboard the Galactica. He invited Ryan and Stromberg to come along.

As usual, councillor Lobe took the chair. "Ladies and gentlemen of this distinguished body. It has now been 3 sectons since this fleet has arrived in the solar system that holds Earth and yet the commander has been silent with regards to establishing contact. My dear commander I do ask you right here and now, would you honour this bodys request and provide them with the status of your efforts."

The commander stayed silent, but only for a brief moment "Members of the council, it pleases me to say that some of our efforts have been successful whereas some have not." He motioned for Jack to come closer. "Allow me to present to you President Jack Ryan of the United States of America. Although he is no longer in office, this man has agreed to help us to establish a formal contact with Earth." Adama then motioned for Stromberg. "This man over here, is Daniel Stromberg. He is the speaker of the house of representatives."

Adama explained the concept of the trias politica to the council as best as he could. Ryan and Stromberg helped him through it. In the end, all of the councillors were dumbfounded. Sire Anton then had a question for Ryan "President Ryan, why is there no unity on your world?"

Ryan and Stromberg cast a few uneasy glances at each other. "We were and are still far too different to have grown together in such a short time. However, at times there were threads that forced us to ban together to deal with that thread. From what commander Adama has told us of your history, it is much the same."

That same moment, the Galactica went to red alert.

" Councillors to the shelter area. You too Mr Stromberg, President Ryan, you're with me." Ryan followed Adama to the bridge.

Here, Apollo was waiting. "What is it? Why have we gone to Red alert." Apollo motioned to the scanner monitor "Take a look at this, father." Adama looked and was astounded. A wall of Cylon fighters was approaching the Galactica. And just behind it, a space shuttle not unlike the one of which the crew had been rescued by Shebas patrol.

" Scanning for life signs." A voice reported from the direction of the scanning stations.

Not much later, that same voice reported back "commander, scanners show a total of 68 life signs aboard the shuttle, all human." Ryan suddenly knew what he was looking at. "I guess Baltar managed to persuade Kealty to a rescue mission."

Adama nodded and turned to his XO "Colonel Tigh, prepare the Galactica for heavy attack and standby to deploy the groundforce to the bays."

Then Ryan had another idea "commander, I have a plan." Jack explained the idea as fast as he could.

Out in space, the battle had already commenced.

Cylon fighters were attacking in their usual methodical style, while the vipers using random illogical patterns evaded their attacks and took out many of their opponents before one was destroyed.

And from the rear flew a NASA space shuttle. Evading all the ongoing battles, on a heading that would take it to the largest spaceship man from Earth had ever set eyes upon. Aboard her, was her commander, William 'Scotch' Lawson, co-pilot was Richard 'wideeye' Kramer. Aboard they had two platoons of Seals.

Their commander, Lieutenant Jesus Rodriguez was also strapped in near the crew cabin. While the pilots tended to their flying, he kept an eye on the battle. He softly whistled as he noticed the volume of explosions going off nearby.

"Hell of a fight these so called criminals are putting up." Kramer observed as yet another explosion lit up the cockpit.

"Yeah, it makes you wonder." Rodriguez silently crossed himself. He had met some of the Cylon pilots that were supposed to escort them. They gave him the willies.

Centurion 359 was one of those Cylons that had done this to the seal commander. And now he was about to do something else.

"Target is locked." The sensor officer, centurion 40520 reported. "Fire when in range." The fighter curved into the beginning of something resembling a pinwheel attack. Luckily for the crew of SRS 001 Galactica flight control put a couple of vipers in proximity. One of which now easily dispatched 359 and his companions to Hades.

The shuttle wasn't rocked by debris, but the explosion did give it a kick in the tail. Kramer immediately reached for the damage control checklist as Lawson began evasive manouvers and Rodriguez headed aft to check on his men.

He returned not much later to find they had reached the fifteen minute mark. Again the three sets of eyes gazed intently upon the stars. But somehow, they found themselves in the clear. Lawson now began focussing on the approach as Rodriguez went aft.

Somehow, the landing went as smooth as silk. After one of the Seals, who a bit of a Star trek aficionado, and had thus been trained in atmospheric scanning NASA style, pronounced the area clear and free to breathe, the commandos moved out.

Only to find they were alone in the bay. Literally, there was no movement what so ever.

10

Leaving two squads to cover their rear, Rodriguez and his men headed in.

In charge of squads three and six was Chief William Sherman. And the chief didn't like what he saw seeing. There were far to many places to hide here in this bay. For a moment he even had the feeling that they were being watched!

But, Chief Sherman saw himself as a professional, and dedicated to his job as he saw, he went to check the positions of his men.

With squad three, who was covering the exits, all was clear. Squad six had been split in two elements. Element one was guarding the shuttle. Element two covered the forward part of the bay. Again Sherman had the feeling that they were being watched.

As he got the first position, Sherman studied the view ahead of them. " Odd stuff down there sir." Tom Ruckerman remarked as he noticed the chief standing nearby. Sherman looked around a bit further "Yeah Huck, youre'right." He pointed to the distance "It would seem a lot of these rails have some kind of ships stacked on top of them. As if they're launchers of some kind."

Sherman nodded "yeah, fighters or something." The chief walked down the line to check on his men further. When he got to the last position, the only there, was a carbine. The man to which it had belonged had completely disappeared.

The chief activated his radio "Base Sierra to Sierra six, come in please, urgent." There was a brief static but then Rodriguez voice came through "Base Sierra go ahead." Rodriguez was whispering the chief heard "Six, one of our guys has vanished into thin air." Again there was a brief moment of static. "Six, do you copy?"

"Six copies." And after that the lieutenant signed off. Well, iniative wasn't necessarily a bad thing. The chief redeployed his men into groups of two. Then he went to check the guards near the shuttle.

It was all clear still. "Okay people, eyes and ears open. We probably got company here and I don't know who it is."

Rodriguez wasn't faring much better. Except that he hadn't lost one, but two men. A search turned up empty. The remaining operators then resumed their way to the Galactica bridge. The place they thought the missing House Speaker would be held.

In the alpha bay, Chief Sherman and the others operators eyed their surroundings. "there sure are a lot of places to hide here, chief." One of the men guarding the shuttle remarked as the chief casually passed him by.

"Just keep your cool about it." The chief went back to element two, to be surprised again. Two more men had just vanished. Enough was enough. The chief called Ruckerman over to him.

"Huck, the others are to stay here to guard the shuttle. You and me are going hunting." With that, the chief moved out, with Ruckerman in tow. They moved as silently as they could, using cover in one place and concealment in the other. They never spotted anyone.

From a room near the bridge, Croft smiled. He had to hand it to whoever it was in the hangar, they were good. But not as good as his men though. He watched as the two earthling past another of his sentry posts. The fun had gone long enough. Pretty soon the vipers would be needing places to land. It had to end here and now.

"All sabre units move in and engage."

Chief Sherman never felt the laserbeam. Nor did Ruckerman. The others proved to be no hassle. About five microns after the order had been given,k the hangar commander reported that they had the hangar under control again.

With Lieutenant Rodriguez and his men, commander Croft realized he had to be careful.

They were far more alert then any of the people in the bay had been. He studied the scanner display again. Croft's attention focused on the council chamber. Yes!!!!, that was it. He keyed his personal communicator. "Team Delta four assemble council chambers, deploy out of sight." He ordered the other teams to start hounding their Earth brothers in the direction of the council chambers.

Rodriguez now had the feeling that they were being watched. He motioned his men to go for their nightvision scopes. As he activated his, the eery dark corridor was lit up by the firing of a laser. The shot missed him completely as the lieutenant returned fire.

More laser shots were fired in their general direction. Rodriguez motioned the others to withdraw as he covered them. As they got to an intersection, they were again met by even more intense laserfire.

Only one corridor seemed open. In the distance, there seemed to be a doorway. By now three men of Rodriguez unit had been knocked down. The team medic reported that they seemed to have been stunned.

"Okay doc, see if you evacuate the guys down through those doors, we'll try to keep you covered." Doc Roberts, the seal medic assigned for this mission nodded. "Yes sir." He immediately picked up the first man and carried him down into the room. In the meantime, the remaining operators provided covering fire as best as they could. However, as Doc Roberts came back from his third trip, he realised three more men had been hit.

Again the medic carried the men out of harms way.

By this time, the remainder of the operators had begun withdrawing as well.

They made it into the room without any further casualties, only to find that it was empty, save for a table with seats around and something that made one of the men think of bleechers on his old high school.

Rodriguez briefly examined his surroundings. No furniture except the table and seats. The bleechers, as Jastrow had called them seemed to be fixed in place as well. Rodriguez looked through the hall again. It was then he noticed there was someone sitting at the table.

Telling some of his men to cover him, he walked up to the table. Before he got there, a light came on.

"Mr Speaker!" Stromberg didn't appear to be in shock, but Rodriguez certainly was.

Stromberg just nodded "Welcome, lieutenant Rodriguez. I would suggest your men lay down their weapons before our hosts get really agitated." Rodriguez frowned. They were alone in here, or were they?

That same moment the rest of the lights in the chambers were activated. They weren't alone! From the back rows of the bleechers stood two files of men, armed with laserrifles, aimed on them. In front of those files stood two people, also carrying the same rifles as the rest of the soldiers in file.

"I take it you recognize those two?" the speaker asked the lieutenant. Rodriguez mouth fell open from amazement. The two people in front were none other then colonel Sarah Mackenzie and captain Brian Marcuso. "Pardon my asking sir, but why are you in league with these criminals? They shot down one of the new Air Force prototypes." Stromberg smiled "I believe this is what you're talking about?" He motioned towards one of the panels on the wall.

Rodriguez saw an image of a discship appear. The discship was firing madly in the direction of the camera, but seemed to miss. The ship grew in size. Until, for less then a second, it turned orange and vanished into a flaming cloud of debris.

The timestamp on the clip had been the same as the one they had seen during the briefing. "there is something else I want you to see lieutenant." Another guncamera image appeared. Rodriguez noticed he found himself looking at the shuttle they had come in on.

The same explosions that had appeared in the previous image now made a comeback again. The camera moved a bit to reveal the object that was causing the explosions. To the surprise of Rodriguez and all of his men, it was another discship. Then, like on the video on Earth, there was an orange flash and the raider disappeared in flames.

" Might I add a little something, lieutenant." Rodriguez looked up to see who the other man was. His eyes went wide. "Mr president!" Adama came in right behind Ryan and watched the scene unfold.

Rodriguez and the others snapped to attention. Despite the fact that Ryan was no longer the president, a lot of people, even within the armed forces, still thought very highly of him. Ryan did his best Marine salute for them.

" Sir, what's going on here?" Rodriguez asked. "Sit down lieutenant, then we'll tell you."

They told them everything, they showed everything. Even the transmission from Earth that appeared halfway through the incredible sequence of events that had led to the arrival of the battlestar and her flock.

Near the end of the story, Adama sighed "Now the only thing we need to do is convince your president Kealty." Jack nodded "Easilyer said then done. And since we can't bring him up here, you know what that means."

That we'll have to go down, again."

Within a few days, it became clear in Washington the planned raid had been a failure. Again Baltar was called to the White House.

Again he met with Kealty and Holbeck. Holbeck was ordered to be frank with the chairman of Cystar. "If it were to come to an invasion, would the weapons you have constructed be useable to defend us and the world?"

Baltar thought for a moment. "They would be able to do just that, but it would take a substantial effort." Inwardly, Baltar smiled. It would seem the power of the USA had just fallen into his lap.

"Our own forces will help where they can." Kealty answered. Now Baltar smiled. "I wouldn't have wanted it any other way."

Thanks to the gamma frequency discovery, the command staff aboard the battlestar had a pretty good idea of what they were up against. Adama assembled the Eartheners that had been brought aboard in his quarters. There he reported the grave news to Ryan and the others. " We have a situation on our hands."

Ryan looked up from his study of the holographic model of Washington DC. " What kind of situation, sir?" this came from commander Croft who had been assigned as an advisor to the small group. Adama walked up to the diagram and studied the White House. "It's about Baltar." Adama pointed at the residence "He is here."

C.roft smiled, as did Ryan. "Good, that saves us the trouble of looking for him." Adama briefly turned to the others. "May the lords bless you in your endeavour."

11

A few days of tranquillity passed in Washington in this way. Baltar deployed his newly constructed forces along the city and established his own command in the White House, allowing the president his first close up view of the new centurions. They scared him.

James Holbeck also spend more time over at the Avenue as well. He was impressed by Baltars efficiency and told his observation to the president. Kealty nodded "I know, I've seen them in action."

The two compared notes. "if that Baltar character is right, we're going to need his robots and his fighters to combat that huge mother those, colonials, have got with them." Holbeck looked at enhanced digital picture taken from a telescope. It showed the battlestar in proximity orbit of the moon. He whistled "that thing sure is pretty." He studied some of the technical data provided. "and quite the killer, if you ask me." He pointed at some of the enlarged shots that depicted the laser cannons aboard the ship. But that wasn't the thing that caught the attention of both government officials.

It was separate from that folder, a picture of a colonial Viper, turbos flaring and heading perpendicular to the camera.

Holbeck could only admire the design and the workmanship. "can you imagine the ingenuity that was behind building something the size of this?" though not an engineer, Kealty nodded "I've already spoken with Baltar, he's allowed us to have acces to the ship once his guys take it over."

" That's a good start. Enterprise or something else?" the SECDEF laughed now. "Oh yeah, instant solution to any recruiting problem." He raised his drink as two Centurions passed outside on the balcony. Holbeck still wondered what the hell was going on. Why were they trusting this Baltar and his self designed machines?

Had he known that same question was on the mind of someone else, Holbeck would have voiced his opinions to his president about what it was he had resigned himself and the country to.

President Ryan and commander Croft sat besides each other in a vehicle near Pennsylvania Avenue. They had already come to terms with some of the stuff they had seen on the way in. Seeing Eagles and Falcons flying in formation was one thing however, seeing them together with Cylon fighters brought a few disgusting thoughts to both Ryan and Croft's mind.

The strike team, consisting of a combination of Seals and the Galactica ground force, assembled in a side street, away from the external cameras the Secret Service used to look outside the fence for trouble. Both Croft and Ryan were watching the street while an electronics expert dealt with some cables.

Baltar had joined Kealty and Holbeck. He had decided to introduce Ambrosa to the two politicians. Partly he figured he'd ow it to them. Another part of him saw it as a farewell gesture to two humans his centurions would soon dispose of.

That very same moment, the lights went out all over the White House. The Marine near the West entrance looked on in awe at first but then fell on the ground as someone from the Groundforce knocked him down with the butt of his gun.

By then, Croft and the others were already half on their way to the main entrance. Those Centurions ran into, were destroyed with extreme prejudice. Secret Service agents, uniformed or otherwise, were stunned, secured and left on the scene.

The same procedure was repeated inside the House itself. All in all, seven minutes had passed until the entire House was secured. Jack Sr was relieved to see their assault had netted both the president and the SECDEF.

Kealty had apparently pissed in his pants. Holbeck wasn't much better of. As he walked in, both stared wideyed at him. "Jack, we thought you were dead!" Somehow everything had just turned into a real nightmare. Ryan smiled "rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated." As Jack moved aside, President Edward Kealty suddenly realised the game was up. House Speaker Daniel Stromberg walked in, brandishing not only a mean looking rifle, but one huge pistol as well.

Holbeck had taken the opportunity to get back in his seat. Two colonial warriors helped the president back into his seat. That same moment, Croft also walked in. He looked at Ryan "We got us a situation. It seems Baltar has escaped!" inwardly Kealty chuckled until he saw Ryan's face. "You'd better prepare a defense, we'll have to hold out in here until morning." Croft nodded and disappeared again.

"I suppose you want me to begin somewhere, don't you." The SECDEF nodded as Kealty muttered something about a nightmare. From inside his camouflage jacket, Ryan took out a tape, Stromberg repeated the procedure. "we'll let the picture paint itself." Stromberg said as he headed out also. "Oh you're right about the nightmare, Ed, but it's only beginning."

Again the SECDEF put the tape into the vcr.

And they watched. The whole thing of the first tape lasted three hours, the second tape was three hours more. By then the White House was surrounded.

Baltar naturally took command on the scene. This to the chagrin of the director of the Secret Service. But, as she was briefed on the nature of the problem, Emma Caulfield had to concede Baltar was more then equipped to deal with the situation. Pretty soon, the White House was surrounded by Centurions.

Out in space, things weren't all that different. Starbuck and Apollo hadn't been allowed to take part in the storming of the White House. Adama had quickly realized they were needed at the fleet more then on Earth.

That realization proved more and more correct when the Galacticas long range scanners picked up a wall of Cylon fighters closing in on the fleet. Due to the number of fighters involved, the reserves were called up as well. This resulted in the Galactica being able to launch over 200 vipers.

Baltar had been busy, for those 200 vipers were facing over 2000 Cylon fighters. All of which had come from the direction of Earth.

Baltar had realised that he had taken a risk. If Adama were to beat his forces, he would definetly make a run for Earth's surface, which would leave him trapped and captured again. Not something he was looking forward to. Then he remembered something.

Not wishing to standout in the crowd, Baltar had purchased a few things to make him appear more as a CEO of a leading aerospace company. One of the things purchased, was something known as a cell phone. Through some of Lucifers thinkering, the phone now had more power and range then ever.

Baltar didn't call Texas. Lucifer would be too busy directing the attack on the Galactica and her fleet. Instead, he dialled in the number for something else.

Inside the White House, things weren't really deteriorating yet. The power was still on, water was running and there was yet food available. Croft and Stromberg had returned to the office where the president and the SECDEF had been kept under guard together with Jack Ryan Sr.

The two US politicians had been kept under lock and key together with Ryan to allow for an unimpended view of what the other side had to say. Included in the tapes, was a message from Adama explaining everything about the fleet, its situation, and the Cylons. The first signs of daybreak were already apparent. Colonial Warriors and Seals alike were observing the deployment of even more Centurions to the siege lines surrounding the White House.

There were some worrying glances as a phone began ringing. Croft, looked at Ryan and nodded. Jack picked up the phone.

He fully expected Emma Caulfied. He wasn't disappointed. "Hello Emma." Emma Caulfield paled. Even she recognized the voice.

"Mr Ryan. How are you doing, sir?" She got no response. "Mr Ryan, Lord Baltar seems to be willing to come in to the House to talk to you."

The raid commanders along with Kealty and Holbeck had all assembled in the Oval Office. "That gentleman wouldn't be the CEO of Cystar, would it?" Caulfield looked first at the White House, then at Baltar. "Yes, it would." Inside the white House Croft smiled like a predator. Ryan did too. "Send him in."

Baltar came alone. Much to the surprise of the warriors that searched him the only thing Baltar had with him, was his cell phone. He was escorted to the Oval Office by two warriors and a Seal.

Croft examined the cell phone as he got it. "What's with the countdown?" Now Ryan came up with Holbeck and the president not far behind. "Let's just say, this countdown is my way of ending this situation, Mr Ryan." Everyone in the room looked at each other. " I'll tell you something, count Baltar. If that means what I think it does, your game will be up as well." Kealty now looked at Ryan " What does that mean, Jack?"

Jack kept his eyes on the floor. "That means, when that countdown ends, the Count's friends attack." On the desk, the cell phone clock counted down.

Out on the White House grounds, the Centurions began reforming their lines. Once the baseship would arrive, they would commence the attack

12

Daybreak was turning into a full blue summer morning with a few clouds. Although rain was expected later in the DC area. The Centurions that surrounded the White House held their lines tightly. Behind those lines, an abundance of Secret Service vehicles, police patrol cars, fire engines and paramedics stood at the ready, waiting for the final showdown in the hostage crisis.

Even further back stood the press. Their reports went out over the airwaves into Americas living rooms. The situation was breaking all ratings records. Even the rest of the world tuned in, by grace of either the Internet or tv stations like CNN or Sky news.

Out in the Oval Office, everyone with the exception of Baltar was looking at the clock. It was late in the morning now. Just five more minutes to go until the countdown reached zero. Overhead, there was the sound of thunder.

" Just five more minutes mr President. And then your world will be mine." Baltar laughed. Croft had his predator smile again "Just five more minutes, Baltar and you'll end up a heap of daggit droppins on the floor."

Baltar became quiet but nevertheless continued to smile. Kealty, the sitting president, and the secdef were nervous to the point of getting agitated. "Jack, what the hell does the guy mean? With that five minute remark." Croft answered "It means in five minutes, a Cylon basestar will arrive here and turn all of us into dust." As an after thought, Ryan added in "In case you guys haven't figured it out yet, Cystar stands for Cylon Star empire."

Jack tried to explain as best as he could, while Croft filled in the details from the colonial side of the playing field. "All in all, the colonials and Cylons have been fighting each other for something akin to a thousand of your years." Croft finally finished.

All the radios crackled at the same time. "They're moving in."

With the butt of his personal rifle, Croft knocked down Baltar before heading out. He ran to one of the windows overlooking the Westside of the building. One thing was clear, the Cylons were advancing over open ground. "Sledge Hammer to all, pick them off, save the Solium grenades for last."

And with that it began. Precision shooting from both the Ground force and the Seals took out many a Centurion. But for each one knocked down, two more took their place. In this way, the use of Solium grenades soon became inevitable.

But, as Croft was about to give the order, the world turned to orange. And commander Croft, commander of the Galactica ground force soon found he had reason to smile again. Esspecially as a very familiar _ other_ thunder sound filled his ears.

His radio crackled from the static. "Jackhammer to Sledgehammer, come in please." Again that brief static "Sledgehammer go."

Like those in the Oval office, he was suddenly aware of the size of the shadow that had fallen over them.

He took his eyes off the retreating Cylons to look up into the sky. So did the siegers.

And they were stunned. A police officer standing beside Emma Caulfield was overheard to remark "Somebody call Randy Quaid and Will Smith. They missed one!" They could only watch awestruck as first a huge gatorlike nose that came through the cloud then, the wide body and the first parts of the appendages followed.

Everyone, wheter they were inside the White House or on the outside felt the ground shake beneath their feet. Besides the huge ship, fighters flew in formation. It wasn't until he saw the number of fighters in the air, Croft realised whose ship it was.

" Well I'll be darned. The son of a bitch survived."

Out in space, the battle wasn't going well. But it wasn't going great either. Despite the ten to one odds, the colonial Viper force was largely intact. However, due to the shear wight of numbers the Cylons had, the battle was now raging all over the colonial fleet.

The Cylons died in droves. Time and time again, the colonial vipers attacked from unexpected angles and rendered their opponents into space debris. In turn, a few vipers were destroyed as they were trapped by the infamous pinwheel attack.

On the Galactica bridge, someone was puzzling. Something was missing in the picture. Although there were more Cylon fighters, it seemed there were no baseships present yet. The corporal manning the longrange scanner post number four wasn't picking up anything as she continued to monitor the approaches to the fleet.

Now things happened fast. The longrange scanners picked up something coming from the vector to Earth. Omega, who worked the command dais for this battle then paled as he picked up a signal. He turned to his skipper "Commander, we got a signal coming in on Fleetcom line Alpha!" the two leading colonials looked at each other.

"Miracles have a way of happening with us, Tigh." Adama remarked "I know, but after miracles I'm just wondering what else will happen?" The next moment they knew what would happen. The fighters from the Pegasus joined the battle. But there were far to many of them. Cain couldn't have that many vipers left, could he?

Cain was going to answer it for them. "Hello Adama, you old war daggit." Cain was smiling. This was his favourite way of entering an ongoing battle. "Cain! It's a miracle to see you again, old friend" Cain held back a bit "it's good to see you too. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a battle to fight."

"How did you get all those fighters up?" Cain chuckled and looked away as commander Croft and Jack Ryan moved into the picture. "Hello commander."

Adama now smiled "Can you be short enough to explain what happened?" Now Jack chuckled "I can. As it turns out President Kealty and Secretary Holbecks decision wasn't really popular within the lower ranks. When commander Cain showed up and, shall we say proved humanities versatility, well, let's just say the colonial forces just upped their recruitforce with one hell of a recruitement stunt."

Adama watched how Ryan looked to the side. "We have to go now sir. Commander Cain is starting his surprise tactics."

While the Galactica continued to defend her fleet of refugee ships, the Pegasus moved in with her fighters alongside. Since most of the Earth flyers were inexperienced, they were led by the remaining colonial pilots aboard the Pegasus.

Croft studied the plot display. With Cain's arrival from Earth, the Cylons had literally been caught between the hammer (the Pegasus) and an anvil (Adama) Now the only thing left would be for the hammer to strike the anvil. Croft had his ferocious grin again. Adama would be one heck of an anvil. And the hammer of Cain, well, as usual that would be a sight to behold.

He felt the slight tremor as the main engines began accelerating. Anytime now.

" Launch all Vipers!" a bridge technician handed Croft a communicator "the commander wants you to listen in, sir. He feels it might provide us the edge." Croft nodded and adjusted the equipment onto his combat gear. He switched it on. His headphones were immediately filled with the sounds of combat.

"Whoa, there must be a million of them! "the response was almost immediate "more targets for us to shoot at." Then the voice of the Pegasus fighter controller cut to the air. "All fighters, engage at will!" Turbos flared all around the gargantuan human war vessel.

Croft listened to the voices again "Watch it, two of them have noticed us, they're starting to manoeuvre." In his mind Croft had the image of the vipers flying in formation and looking for the Cylon fighters. He saw them try to evade, the vipers getting into position and firing, and passing through the debris field.

"I got them both!" An excited voice hollered. "good job, now then let's show the Navy how its done boys, engaging." Ryan smiled as he listened to the Airforce general who was the overall officer in command of the newly established Pegasus fighter wing. Again turbos flared as the new vipers went on their way to join the fight.

The fight that followed was truly a sight to behold. Operating in their standard earth leader wing man configuration, the Pegasus fighter wing did not only lower the odds from 10 to 1 to 5 to 1, they also cut a clear path for the Pegasus to rendezvous to the Galactica.

Croft and now Ryan as well, were listening in on the communications.

"Woohoo, that's three for me, two more and I'll be an ace!" Another voice then cut in "Yeah well, join the club, that as my sixth." There came no response. "catch up time."

" Cover my six, I got two of them heading for one of the landing bays."

"gotcha covered Breakneck." A few moments later, a happy voice said " Scratch two."

Apollo was in trouble, and Starbuck wasn't around to save him. A Cylon fighter was close on his tail and despite every attempt, he couldn't shake him off.

"Apollo to any body, I'm in trouble." The laser bursts were getting ever closer. Then there was something in front of his Viper, moving extremely fast towards him. Then there was a burst of different looking laserfire. Apollo was in time to see the last shards of debris flame out.

"Thanks, whoever you are." A strong voice answered quicker then he expected "No problem. There's more then enough to make aces of all of us." Apollo nearly fell out of his cockpit. Did someone just tell him there were more then enough Cylons to go around? He didn't have time to wonder was more Cylons demanded his attention.

Sheba, Starbuck, Bojay, Boomer. All of them reported the same thing. A viper showing up from a surprise angle and blasting Cylons of their tail. By then the two groups of Vipers had merged. The remaining Cylon fighters did the same. The two sides briefly reassembled their formations before going at it again. Now a giant dogfight raging all the way from Earth until the colonial fleet and back.

The Cylons, acting on their last orders, began attacking the colonial fleet again. By this time however, the colonials and Earth flyers were more then ready and threw themselves at the attackers with an unmatched ferocity.

The Cylons never reached the fleet. They were trapped by a massive group of nearly 350 Vipers. The battle turned into a turkey shoot.

Using tactics the Cylons were unfamiliar with, the vipers from the Pegasus weren't inflicting casualties. They were taking the Cylons on, and winning, easily. After 45 minutes of fighting and the Cylons losing 75 percent of their total force, the battle was effectively over. The Cylons had been defeated, again, but would their brothers from Earth accept the fact that they were no longer alone?

Adama already knew a lot would come down to Jack Ryan and Daniel Stromberg. He was in his quarters when a call came in from the bridge. "Sir, gamma transmission from Earth, directed at us." The commander answered that he would take it in his quarters. Thanks to Boomer, and some concentrated development efforts the Galactica now had some gamma frequency DF finding equipment.

Jack Ryan appeared on the screen. "Commander Adama, it seems we have a problem." The back ground view, showed a handcuffed Baltar, under guard by two of Commander Croft's men.

"It seems, that Baltar over here, was under orders to defeat us using his centurions and after that, he was to rule this planet in the name of someone called the Imperious Leader." At that Adama froze.

13

Four days after the battle of Earth, all was tranquile again in space. There wasn't even a sign of twohundred and twenty ships, let alone two battlestars.

Imperious leader sat in quiet contemplation as his basestar and two escorts approached Earth and its planets.

A lone centurion entered the command chamber.

"By your command."

" Speak"

"We have entered the system containing the planet Earth. There is no sign of count Baltar's ship."

"Continue until we get to Earth."

Before the centurion turned around, he answered with the traditional by your command.


End file.
